In persons diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) (P), how effective is bicycle exercise as physical activity (I) compared to usual care (C) help to improve the stableness or physical health of PD patients (O) when applied to a specific period (T)? The chosen article for the analysis is ‘Parkinson’s disease patients benefit from bicycling’ by Tiihonen et al. 2021.
The article’s abstract starts by acknowledging PD patients’ difficulties in containing their conditions. According to Tiihonen et al. (2021), identify and mention that PD patients are adversely compromised and can hardly have stable movement on their own. Hence, the article strives to find out which bicycle exercise would best benefit persons diagnosed with PD. Moreover, the research would also determine which PD-related symptoms or conditions would improve the anticipated bicycle exercise.
The abstract introduces the reader to a systematic database literature search, both randomized control trials (RCT) and non-randomized control trials (NRCT), which are the tools used for assessing the effect of bicycle riding on PD patients. Furthermore, the abstract quantifies several sources that were analyzed to arrive at the conclusions that were made after the cohort study. It is presented that out of 202 articles researched, about 22 were found eligible studies with approximately 505 patients suffering from PD condition. Therefore, I think the information contained in this article abstract is adequate to give an overview of the research to its readers.
The key issue in this article’s introduction is the goal-directed physical exercise and general physical activities that are in practice to alleviate the challenges faced by PD patients. According to Tiihonen et al. (2021), physical and general activities have been experimentally and scientifically proven to lessen both motor and cognitive symptoms among persons diagnosed with PD. As such, exercise is a complement to standard pharmaceutical and surgical treatment of PD patients. The article further reinstated the need for diversified physical exercise forms for patients suffering from PD conditions to help improve their condition and better their lives.
As presented in this article’s introduction, little or resources have been allocated to identifying noble physical activities paramount to improving patients’ needs and well-being. Bicycle riding is, therefore, one such activity that has been proposed by Tiihonen et al. (2021) to help improve PD patients’ conditions as more new forms and technologies are underway concerning therapies for persons struggling with PD conditions.
The article states that exercise-based training could enhance functional mobility by utilizing enhanced strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility that support the efficient performance of these groups. Tiihonen et al. (2021), acknowledge that there is no conclusive research that proves exercise as a full remedy for the condition but could be considered as a disease-modifying element that helps in patients’ improvements. In addition, physical activities have been found to have neuroprotective effects on the brain. This research reports that in 2010, some individuals had severe gait freezing as a result of riding bicycles (Tiihonen et al., 2021). Therefore, physical activities have potential benefits for persons diagnosed with PD conditions.
According to Tiihonen et al. (2021), the research adopted a criterion for judging the eligibility of the sources they ought to use to investigate the matter under question. First, the review was pre-registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews. According to this study, only original reports applying quantitative measures in understanding the effects of an intervention on PD patients were rendered valid. Studies with recumbent, tandem, motorized, non-motorized, and stationary bicycle ergometers in defining bicycle exercise were also included in this research. Furthermore, studies that involve hand pedaling instead of foot pedaling were also included in this research.
Studies that were unaccepted, for instance, were those in which their primary outcome had no link to the effect of bicycling on the physical health of PD patients. To gather the appropriate data, PubMed databases for biomedical literature were visited for studies from 2010 up to 2020 using keywords such as ‘Parkinson bicycle cycling.’ Which studies were settled depending on the publishing year and author, study design and design size, quantitative measures on both pre and post-treatment, demographic characteristics of the study size, and intervention characteristics?
All the studies were grouped and tested upon verifying the quality of the selected sources and validating the effect of the size of the treatment. In cases where multiple primary measures were involved, a suitable measure for analysis was chosen that best aligned the rest of the outcome true. The measure was termed functional if it enabled general movement and body mobility. Afterward, secondary measures were examined and their relationship to how bicycle cycling would influence the lives of PD patients was determined. The variables that were of interest were gait, walking capacity, speeds, tremors, and balance.
Some of the testing tools that were used in this research were the 6-minutes walking test, Parkinson’s Diseases Questionnaire 39, MDS-Unified Parkinson’s Diseases rating scale (MDS-UPDRS) II and III, and Quality-of-life. This is a quantitative research method because it involves the measurement of several variables that must be systematically analyzed to arrive at an informed conclusion regarding the matter of question.
According to Tiihonen et al. (2021), the treatment period varied between 1-12 weeks. Out of the 22 used studies, a few PD patients did not report bicycle cadence. On the other hand, the majority of the studies reported cadence. The data collected and presented from this research ultimately showed that bicycle exercise is beneficial as PD patients are concerned. The study proved motor improvement with physical exercise. Moreover, interventions that were implemented more than once proved to yield better outcomes in managing PD patients (Tiihonen et al., 2021). Therefore, the results of this study showed that bicycling among PD persons improves their general conditions and wellbeing. In addition, the effect size that was obtained from the data indicates that bicycling has several benefits in helping diagnosed patients cope with their conditions. The hypothesis also proved true that moderate to high-intensity physical exercise among the patients had a positive result as compared to low-intensity training. Finally, the research also proves that the patient’s ability to balance improved with bicycling among PD patients.
This study helps readers and the general public understands Parkinson’s Disease in depth. Moreover, the research gives more details in terms of the causes, risk factors, and how the diagnosed patients could be managed to give them hope in their daily lives. One is a coping intervention method that the study has outlined bicycling. This is considered a physical activity in which patients suffering from PD are subjected to improve their condition. Finally, the research reinstates the importance of caring for PD patients.
Reference
Tiihonen, M., Westner, B., Butz, M., & Dalal, S. (2021). Parkinson’s disease patients benefit from bicycling – a systematic review and meta-analysis. Npj Parkinson’s Disease, 7(1). Web.